Beach Week! 

The girls had been looking forward to this week all summer! And it did not disappoint. One of the first highlights was finally getting to meet their cousin C. She's a cutie! As usual Monkey and Bug celebrated a birthday at the beach! They chose the dinner menu and dessert, and open presents (Bug primarily got an IOU. More on that later). They got to spend tons of time at the beach and in the pool, where a number of new skills were learned: getting in and out of the breakers and open-water swimming, building sand dribble castles and bridges/tunnels, diving into the deep end (an actual 8-foot deep end; local pools only go to 5 feet), and diving for rings then for pennies in the deep end. Taking a swim in the outdoor pool after dark was quite possibly one of the girls favorite memories of the trip.

On your mark! Get set! Go!

Visiting Jockey's Ridge Sand Dunes was another highlight! Lion was in her own special runner's heaven sprinting up and down the massive dunes. We also brought a kite to fly and stayed long enough to watch a beautiful sunset. Of course, it wouldn't be a proper visit to the dunes without a stop for ice cream to eat at once and fudge to bring home. The girls also tried a new thing this year: a mechanical shark! It was great entertainment for everyone! Monkey in particular did a fantastic job and made it all the way to level 3 (increase in speed and changes of direction with each level; names on the leader board only went up to level 4).

This year we also decided to spend a day exploring a living history museum about an hour away. We got to step aboard a replica ship from the 1600s and hear about life on the journey to the colonies from a few "sailors." We also watched demonstrations from a carpenter, blacksmith, and an arquebusier (a man trained to use an early rifle). There was also a "gentleman" on hand to discuss clothing, armor, and colonial life. The museum also had a mock up of an American Indian village from the time and informative signs all about their way of life, but sadly, no living historians to inhabit it.

Fast forwarding through history a few hundred years, we also visiting the Wright Brothers' Memorial. The museum is under renovation, but the park ranger gave one of the best ranger talks I think we've ever heard (and that's saying something--we've been to a lot of state/national parks!). After hearing all about the Wright brothers, their lives and work, and the park itself, we toured the grounds to see replicas of the buildings that would have been their during the Wright brothers test flights, markers indicating take offs and landings, statues representing those present at the original flight, and of course, the memorial itself.